Promotions - Title Listings - "Newbery/Caldecott, January 30, 2012"

In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.

In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values, and beliefs.

In this book with huge children's appeal, Chris Raschka gives us the story of an irrepressible little dog whose most prized possession is accidentally destroyed. With brilliant economy of line and color, Raschka captures Daisy's total (yet temporary)devastation. This is a buoyant tale of loss, recovery and friendship.

A summer's power outage draws a family up to their building's roof and then down to the street for a block party. John Rocco illuminates details and characters with a playful use of light and shadow in his cartoon-style illustrations. He delivers a terrific camaraderie-filled adventure that continues even when the electricity returns.

A boy explores the ordinary life of his great grandfather, as expressed in his topiary garden.

In delicate and precise India ink and watercolor, Patrick McDonnell tells the story of the young Jane Goodall as she observes the natural world around her with wonder, and dreams of a life living with and helping all animals.